2020 Population Census: Key Results in Numbers
The All‑Russian Population Census of 2020 counted 147,182,123 people in Russia: 68.4 million men and 78.8 million women. In cities live 110.1 million, in villages 37.1 million. More highlights: four households out of ten consist of a single person, every fourth adult has higher education, and villages with no more than six residents have become almost twice as many since 1989. Below are the main results for all census volumes, from age and marriages to housing and sources of income. Each section has an interactive Rosstat table on the website.
When the census was carried out and why it is called “2020”
The census was scheduled for 2020, but because of the pandemic it was carried out in autumn 2021. The name remained the same, and Rosstat presents all results for a single date: 0:00 on 1 October 2021. Hence the confusion in searching: “census 2020” and “census 2021” refer to the same survey.
The results were released in eleven volumes: population size and distribution, age and marriages, education, citizenship, national composition and languages, migration, sources of livelihood, households, births, labour force and housing conditions. We devoted a separate article to the national composition, "Peoples of Russia", here we go through the other volumes.
How many people were counted in the census
147,182,123 people. The previous census, in 2010, gave 142.9 million. An increase of 4.3 million looks impressive, but in 2021 the census included Crimea and Sevastopol for the first time: they counted 1,934,630 and 547,820 people respectively. Without them the population is 144.7 million, i.e. growth over eleven years of about 1.8 million people.
Looking further, the number of residents of Russia in the censuses changes little since the late 1980s: 147.0 million in 1989, 145.2 million in 2002, 142.9 million in 2010 and 147.2 million in 2021. All these figures are collected in the table of the number of men and women by censuses, and the annual series between censuses is in the summary "Population of Russia by year".
Men and women
There are 10.3 million more women than men in the country. There are 1,151 women per 1,000 men, the share of men is 46.5%. In villages the imbalance is smaller: there men are 48.3%, in cities 45.9%. Why this happens and at what age women become more numerous is explained in the article "Men and women in Russia".
Urban and rural
City dwellers make up 74.8% of the population. At the same time there are many villages and rural settlements in the country: 153,157 rural localities versus 1,118 cities and 1,179 urban-type settlements. Of the rural localities, 24,751 have no population at all. This is shown in the table of municipal formations and localities.
The most noticeable change of the last thirty years concerns small villages. In 1989 there were 26,234 localities where six people or fewer lived; in 2021 that number rose to 48,252. Now this is almost every third village in the country. The number of large villages, with 5,000 residents or more, grew over the same period from 601 to 1,002. Large villages grow, small ones empty, and the middle between them disappears.
The distribution of villages by number of residents for four censuses is in the table of rural localities.
Age and Marriages
Younger than working age (under 16) according to the census: 24.7 million people, 16.8% of the population. Working age: 85.9 million, 58.3%. Older than that: 36.6 million, almost one quarter (24.9%). For every thousand people of working age there are 714 children and elderly, in villages 795. The breakdown by region is in the table of main age groups, and how the age pyramid has changed since 1959 was written in the article "Age Structure of the Russian Population".
Marital status was answered by 103.6 million people over 16. Of them:
- married: 60.1 million (58%), of which 5.4 million marriages are not registered;
- never married: 19.6 million;
- widowed: 11.7 million;
- officially divorced: 9.2 million, another 3.0 million separated without divorce.
Thus, one out of every eleven couples living together never went to the registry office. Age and gender for each answer option are in the table of population by marital status.
Education: Who Has Higher Education
Among people aged 15 and over who reported education, higher education is held by 27.5 million, that is 26.7%. The most common answer is secondary professional (technical school, college, vocational school): 40.6 million, or 39.5%.
Higher education is more common among women. It is held by 29% of women and 24% of men, and among all who have it, women make up 59%. Men lead only in manual occupations: among skilled workers and employees they are 53%. Gender figures are in the table of education level of women and men.
Households: the most common household consists of one person
The census counted 66.1 million private households, with an average of 2.2 persons in each. In cities 2.1, in villages 2.5.
The largest number of one‑person households: 27.6 million, or 41.8%. Two‑person families 16.5 million, three‑person families 10.3 million. Households of five persons and more together 4.6 million, about 7% of all.
Separately, the census accounted for those living outside private households: 1.02 million people in so‑called collective households, i.e., various institutions, and 11,285 homeless persons. The composition of households by each region is in the table of private households by size.
Housing: house, apartment, dormitory
In separate apartments live 99.5 million people (67.6%), in individual houses 42.1 million (28.6%). In villages the ratio is reversed: two thirds of residents (67.1%) live in their own houses. In dormitories the census found 2.86 million people, in communal apartments 1.53 million. The regional breakdown is in the table of population by type of dwelling.
A separate census question concerned amenities. It was answered by 51.5 million households:
- a toilet on the street for 6.7 million households, in private houses this is more than a third (5.3 million of 14.8 million);
- no hot water for 5.6 million;
- stove heating for 5.0 million;
- all basic types of improvement simultaneously for 21.2 million, i.e., less than half of respondents.
All types of improvement by cities, villages and housing types are in the table of household provision. How many square meters per person we discussed in the article "How many square meters of housing per person".
What Russians Live On
In the census, respondents could name several sources of income at once. They were indicated by 128.6 million people. Salary was named by 58.4 million (45% of respondents), pensions, benefits and other payments by 42.7 million (33%). Those living on support or help from other people amount to 32.5 million, including children.
Income from business or self‑employment was indicated by 3.1 million people, and here men make up 63%. Among those receiving pensions and benefits, on the contrary, women make up 64%. One reason is retirement age: according to Rosstat's methodology, the working age for women ends at 56.5 years, for men at 61.5. Renting out property was named by 314 thousand people, income from savings and interest by 567 thousand. Full table: sources of livelihood of women and men.
How Many Children Women Have
According to the census, there are 1,500 born children per thousand women aged 15 and over, that is, one and a half children per woman. This is not the same as the total fertility rate from annual statistics: the census asks how many children a woman has already given birth to in her life, so younger women pull the average down.
It is more useful to compare generations. Women aged 70 and older have on average 1.84 children, those aged 60–64 have 1.77, those aged 40–44 have 1.66. Women aged 35–39 have so far 1.61. There is no smooth ladder; women aged 45–54 have slightly fewer children than those aged 40–44, but overall grandmothers have given birth to noticeably more than their daughters.
See the breakdown by education level, city and village in the table of average number of children born, and the annual series of births in the article "Births in Russia by Year".
Questions and Answers
How many people are there in Russia according to the 2020 census?
147,182,123 people as of 1 October 2021, including Crimea and Sevastopol.
How many foreigners were counted in the census?
Citizenship was indicated by 134.4 million people. Foreign citizens among them 459,152, of which 290,241 are from CIS countries. Dual citizenship (Russian and another) is held by 133,301 people. Age data are in the population by citizenship table.
Why are there so many people without an answer in the results?
For each question some people did not answer. Marital status was not indicated by 18.9 million people over 16 years old, education by 23.1 million people from 6 years old. Therefore Rosstat calculates shares based on those who responded, and we do the same in this article.
When will the next census be?
By law censuses are carried out no less often than once every ten years. The next one is therefore expected no later than 2031.
In Brief
The 2020 census was carried out in the autumn of 2021 and counted 147.2 million people, of which 2.5 million are in Crimea and Sevastopol. Women outnumber men by 10.3 million, three quarters of people live in cities. The most common household consists of one person, higher education is held by every fourth adult, and more often by women than by men. Two thirds of rural residents live in their own houses, and villages with six residents or fewer are almost twice as many as in 1989. The main sources of money for people: wages and pensions. Older-generation women gave birth on average to more children than current forty‑year‑olds.